Jain Shahi Kaju Makhana
Kaju makhana cooks cashews with fox nuts in a mild tomato gravy, made without onion or garlic.
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35 mintotal
Prep 10 min · Cook 25 min
- Serves
- 2
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Spice
- Mild
Ingredients
Quantities are for 2 servings.
You'll need: Stovetop.
Method
Melt some of the butter in a heavy-bottomed pan. Add the fox nuts and roast them patiently over a low flame until they are properly crisp. Remove and set aside. In the same pan, toast the cashew halves until light golden and set them aside too.
Heat the remaining butter and oil in a kadhai. Add the green cardamom, cloves and cinnamon and let them sizzle for a few seconds so their scent passes into the fat.
Pour the fresh tomato puree into the infused oil. Simmer authoritatively on medium heat for 8-10 minutes, forcing the raw tomato essence to dissipate entirely and the oil to visibly separate.
8–10 min
Stir in the turmeric powder and Kashmiri red chilli powder, thoroughly blending them to bestow the gravy with a striking, opulent redness.
Incorporate the crumbled khoya (mawa). Cook with continuous agitation for 3-4 minutes. As the khoya melts, it will transform the sauce, lending it an undeniably rich, luxuriously thick, and faintly grainy body.
3–4 min
Add warm water a little at a time until the gravy is as thick as you want it. Season with salt and garam masala and bring it to a gentle simmer.
Submerge the golden cashews into the sauce, letting them simmer for 2 minutes to soften slightly. Moments before service, lovingly fold in the ultra-crisp makhana and the fresh cream.
2 min
Take the pan off the heat at once. Boiling on after the makhana goes in turns them soggy, which is the one thing to avoid.
How to tell it's done
Spongy fox nuts and crunchy cashews enveloped in a luscious, deeply rich, mildly sweet, and vibrantly red tomato-mawa reduction.
Getting it right
Tip
Khoya stands as the masterful, secret backbone here, brilliantly imparting the sweetness and robust body expected of elite restaurant-style Jain gravies, completely circumventing the need for any onion or garlic pastes.
What to serve it with
At its best scooped up with hot tandoori roti, spiced missi roti, or buttery, flaky parathas.
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